Has anybody tried this beaver set? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddh3rynNg7s&feature=player_embedded It looks like an easy way to trap beaver under the ice. I doesn't look like the trap would have very much stability. I prefer snaring for beavers but my sets require a little more work than this set. It looks like you could just auger a few 10 inch holes then drop the trap in.

I also had good luck just attaching a short piece of white PVC to the trigger wires on the 330. Just drill two holes in the pipe, run the wires through, and bend them slightly. That way you don't lose the pipe when the trap fires

By the way, I don't hang mine the way the video showed it. I just have a piece of cable attached to one spring eye and drop it straight down the hole. I run that cable up to a stick across the hole. Also, I put them a couple feet below the bottom of the ice so they don't freeze in. That guy in the video wasn't working with much ice there.

I never liked the idea of the swinging 330 under the ice. Just seemed to have a bigger margin of error to me so I use a straight dead pole through both springs and run it down into the bottom with the trap hanging off the side of it. Then either bait the trigger or the jaw. It works really well for me.

That said I don't doubt the swing trap works I never tried it because in my mind I did not like it.

Yep I've used the pole also. I don't like it though because you have to thread that set trap down on the pole, through the spring eyes. Also, if you are in deep water you have to pull up a long pole and the trap has to go up in the air and it might have a beaver in it. Just awkward and maybe a bit risky IMO. It does seem more stable though the beaver don't seem to mind the swinging trap.

Another thing nice about this set is that you can use old, weak 330's that you wouldn't trust on dry land.

I am also in question about the swinging 330 under the ice. It seems odd to me to not have a trap be that unstable. We go though such efforts to make both legholds and connibear type traps solid in their set position. Am I missing something magical about this type of set?

I don't think so. When you think about, the trap is dead still as the beaver approaches. He grabs the "bait" with either his teeth or feet and it fires. Period. They must be used to pieces of brush in their grub pile moving as they cut off a piece to take home so maybe a bit of movement means nothing to them. As long as it works, it doesn't matter to me whether the trap is solid or not.

Yrs ago a buddy and I caught a mess of beaver the way w17 did with one spring and birch branches wadded up and placed on trigger, for some reason it just don't work anymore and anyway I prefer 2 or 3 snares and a bait pole.

Yes, I have caught beaver this way, I think the thing about the swinging trap is that the beaver does not have a dead pull which can cause rubs on the fur more than a trap that is not anchored solidly.

Edited by madtrapper (12/29/1010:40 PM)

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Ely, Minnesota, coolest small town in America, 2010.